


Three Kids, Two Men and a Bowl of Leola Root Casserole

by phinnia



Series: Delta Quadrant Babies [1]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 11:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16554761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phinnia/pseuds/phinnia
Summary: Whatever happened to those lizard-babies?





	Three Kids, Two Men and a Bowl of Leola Root Casserole

It was _weird_ , that’s what it was.   Harry hadn’t seen Tom in _days_.   Not since he’d come back from being a lizard on that planet.   And everyone was being very closemouthed about the whole thing.     
  
He wasn’t used to this sort of silence from his lover.   Tom was usually brash and outspoken about at least something, even if it was only Neelix’s cooking.   They hadn’t been together for long, but Harry thought he had a right to know.  
  
Finally he went to Tom’s quarters and rang the chime to see for himself.   Was Tom sick?   He hadn’t been on the bridge…  
  
The door swished open.  
  
“Come in.”   He could hear Tom’s voice.   Tired, very tired.   It was only 1900 hours.     
  
Maybe he was sick.   Harry took three steps inside -  
  
\- skidded on something, slid across the room, and fell on his ass.  
  
There was childish giggling.     
  
“I told you to pick that up, Shannon Elizabeth Paris.   Oh, _man_.  Now I sound _exactly_ like my _father_.”     
  
“Funny.”   A small voice said.  
  
Harry looked up and saw two sets of eyes looking down at him - a set of grey ones, and a set of more familiar blue ones.     
  
Tom helped him up.  
  
“I was hoping you’d drop by at some point.”    Tom sighed, and gestured around the room, which was covered in toys and clothes and assorted child-mess.   “You think it’s easy getting a babysitter for three two-year-olds?   I need to run this place through the _sterilizer_.”  
  
  
Harry sat down on the sofa, after he’d cleared part of it off.   “Okay, explain.   There was the warp ten experiment.   I know about that.”  
  
“Yeah, that.   And three lizard-babies.   The Doctor wanted to study them.   So they came back.   And when he changed Kathryn and me back to human beings, they changed to human beings, too.   Some kind of weird DNA thing, I don’t really understand it.”  
  
“So …”  
  
“Shannon.”   He nods at the one that had been laughing at Harry, who was wearing red pyjamas and was now building with a set of blocks.   “Owen.”   He was wearing green pyjamas and playing with a toy car, making ‘mmm’ noises.  “Julia.”   She was sleeping on the sofa, wearing purple pyjamas and cuddling with a stuffed cat.      “And since it was _all my idea_ , guess who gets custody for perpetuity?”  
  
“She’s _Kathryn_ now?”  
  
“We’re raising three children.   She said I can call her by her first name.  At least, not on the bridge.”  
  
“How old are they?”   Harry looked at the kids, and the mess surrounding them.   There are toddler booster-seats at the table.   There are toys all over the place.   There’s clothing everywhere.  
  
“About two and a half.   Or a week old.  Depends on your time scale.   They know some language, and they can walk around, except Julia, she’s still crawling and hanging on to stuff.   Kes comes by and gives me a break in the mornings.   Kathryn comes by at night sometimes.   Usually I fall asleep then.”  
  
Harry started to pick up the toys.   “Do these go someplace?”      
  
“Toybox is … oh, it’s somewhere in their room.”    Tom waves his hand in the direction of a room that Harry’s never seen before.   He goes in there, curious, with an armful of toys, and one of the kids toddles after him.   The room is painted green, and there are three toddler beds in it.     
  
Owen, it’s Owen, the one in green.   He has Tom’s blonde hair, in little ringlets, but the Captain’s grey eyes.  
  
“Box.”   he says, toddling over and pointing.   “Toy box.”  
  
“Thank you.”    Harry knelt down and put the toys in the box.   “I’m Harry.”  
  
“Owen.”   Owen says solemnly, and climbs up on one of the beds and starts jumping on it.  
  
“You are just like your dad.”   Harry says, trying not to laugh, and catches him in the middle of a jump.   “Why don’t we have a story instead?”  
  
“Story!  Story!”  
  
“Story?”   Shannon poked her head around the door, pushing her brown-red hair out of her face.   She has the captain’s grey eyes, too, and her face looks the same as the captain’s.  
  
“Yes.”   Harry looks through the padds on the shelf.   “Hmmm.   What story should we read?”  
  
Shannon says something that makes absolutely no sense.  
  
“Cubie the Borg.”   Tom yawns, carrying Julia into the room and putting her onto one of the beds and pushing her straight strawberry-blonde hair out of her face.   “All right, we’ll tell Cubie the Borg again.”  
  
“Cubie the Borg?”  Harry splutters.  
  
“Hey, you try coming up with kids’ stories on no sleep.”  
  
“All right.”   Harry tucks Owen into his bed.   “Let’s hear the story of Cubie the Borg.”  
  
  
Tom falls asleep in Harry’s arms.   He didn’t even take his clothes off.  
  
“I haven’t showered in days.”   Tom yawns hugely.   “I get absolutely _no peace_ at all.   These kids go with me into the _bathroom_ , Harry.   I’m sorry, I look terrible and I probably smell _awful_ , I haven’t _shaved_ , it’s just -“  
  
“Sssh.”  Harry murmurs.   “Don’t worry about it.   Relax.”  
  
“I am _so glad_ you’re _here_.”   Tom whispers, and falls asleep.  
  
  
Harry wakes up to something crawling on top of him.   “Daddy?   Daddy?  Who this?”  
  
He looks up.   Tom is still drooling into his pillow.   It’s Julia, who is sitting on him.  “Hi.   I’m Harry.   Why don’t we let Daddy sleep, okay?”  
  
“Hungry.   Hungry.”   She looked down at him with Tom’s bright blue eyes.  
  
“Okay.   Let’s see, what do you eat for breakfast?”  
  
“O-meal-mush.”  
  
“Okay, let’s get you some of that, okay?”  
  
  
Harry had fed and washed and clothed all the kids by the time Tom woke up.  
  
“Oh my God, what time is it?”    Tom stumbled into the living room.  
  
“It’s oh-nine-thirty-seven, everybody’s fed and dressed.   You can have a shower if you want.”   Harry says casually from where he’s sitting on the floor playing blocks with Shannon.   Owen is playing with that car again.   Julia is creeping around the sofa.  
  
“How did you do this, Harry?”   Tom stares around the room.  “It’s clean!  The kids are clean!   Nobody’s naked or running around screaming!   Nobody’s throwing anything!”  
  
“I used to babysit a set of five-month old twins.”   Harry shrugs.   “This is nothing.   Didn’t you want that shower?”  
  
Tom stumbles off towards the bathroom, wide-eyed.  
  
  
“Are you _sure_ this is a good idea?”   Tom says, shifting Shannon to his other hip.  
  
“It’s a _great_ idea.   Do you want to stay in your quarters for the rest of the trip?   Cooped up with three children?”  
  
“Uh, not really.”  
  
“See?   It’s a good idea.”   Harry picks up Julia.  Owen takes Tom’s hand, and they start walking.  
  
They go very slowly.   Very, very slowly, because they are going at three-year-old-speeds, and eventually Shannon wants to walk, too, so Tom has to put her down and she walks for a while.  
  
Eventually they even make it to the mess hall.  After about five hours, Harry thinks to himself.  
  
The doors swish open.     
  
“Tom!   I was wondering …”   Neelix, for once in his life, has absolutely nothing to say.   He just … stops talking.  
  
The entire mess hall stares at Harry and Tom and the children.   Every single person.  
  
“Hi.”   Shannon says happily to the whole room.   “I Shannon.”  
  
Nobody says anything for a moment.  
  
Neelix coughs.   “I’m Neelix.”   He kneels down to their level.   “And what’s your name?”  
  
“Owen.”  Owen says clearly.    
  
“This is Julia.”   Tom says.   “Remember those … lizard babies?   Well, they aren’t quite lizards now, and they aren’t exactly babies any more.”   He coughs.   “Uh, hi.   I’ve been a bit occupied for the past week.”  
  
Sam Wildman runs up to them and swoops Shannon off the floor and into her arms.  “Oh, she’s so _sweet_!”  
  
B”Elanna looks down at the kids.  “I was positive _some_ kind of weirdness was involved.   But I did _not_ expect this.   I definitely did not expect _children_.”  
  
“You need to eat!   I’ll watch the little ones!”  Neelix says, shoving a plate of leola root casserole into his hands.  
  
“Uh, Neelix, there are _three_ of them.”  Tom protests.    “They get into stuff.”  
  
“Oh, Tom, you worry too much.  They’re just high spirited.  I had sisters.”  Neelix has Shannon on his shoulders already and Owen is tugging at his hand.  
  
Tom sighs.    
  
“I’ll take her.”   Captain Janeway says from behind him.  
  
He turns, holding Julia out, and she smiles and goes into her mother’s arms.     
  
“Nice to see you again, Tom.   Come see mom, Julia.”   the captain smiles, and she walks over to see Tuvok with her daughter.  
  
“You were right, Harry.”   Tom takes a bite of the casserole.   “You were absolutely right.   This was a good idea.”  
  
“Daddy, what that?”  Owen climbs onto the chair with Harry.  
  
“It’s leola root casserole, Owen.”   Tom says.   “You want some?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah.”  
  
“Here, try it.”  
  
Owen opens his mouth, and Harry pops the spoon in with ease.  
  
“Yum.”   Owen says.  
  
Harry and Tom look at him.  
  
Tom shrugs.  
  
“Here, you want more?”   Tom says.   “Have some more.”     
  
“Yeah, yeah.”   Owen says, taking the spoon.  “More.”  
  
“He likes _leola root_.”   Harry whispers.   “ _Your child_ likes _leola root_.   That’s _bizarre_.”  
  
“Delta Quadrant baby.”   Tom shrugs.   “That’s the only explanation.”  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. :)


End file.
